


you could see planets and stars

by Lise



Series: Remember This Cold [56]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: (well day trip vacation), Anal Sex, Established Relationship, M/M, Oral Sex, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Sexual Content, Steve and Loki have a nice day, Steve gets to visit another world, Vacation, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, not everything is angst all the time, so sweet I rotted my own teeth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-31
Updated: 2017-05-31
Packaged: 2018-11-06 15:44:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11039253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lise/pseuds/Lise
Summary: Steve's elaborate proposal plans might have been derailed, but Loki is going to make it up to him.





	you could see planets and stars

**Author's Note:**

> An anon asked for "post-proposal Stoki porn" and this is what I ended up writing. I'm almost embarrassed. Everything is so sweet and it's _so much_ and do other people feel the need to apologize for their fluff? This is probably a sign of something deeply wrong with me. (Although considering I feel like I need to apologize for my angst, too...maybe it's a different problem.)
> 
> Anyway: figured these two deserved a nice day, with all the suffering I put them through. See, sometimes they _can_ have nice things!
> 
> Thanks to the ever-wonderful [Amelia](http://ameliarating.tumblr.com) for betaing, and also for consulting on plot things. "Plot." Such as it is.
> 
> As always, I can be found [on my Tumblr](http://veliseraptor.tumblr.com), where this verse [has its own tag](http://veliseraptor.tumblr.com/tagged/remember-this-cold) with bonus headcanons, fic, and excerpts from future installments. 
> 
> Happy reading!

“Sam tells me,” Loki said a little too casually, “that you had…elaborate plans for your proposal.”

Steve felt his face warm and stared intently at the pages of the book he was reading. “Did he?” God, he was going to _kill_ Sam.

“Mmm. A carriage ride. A fancy dinner. A vacation.”

His face got even warmer, but a little bit of guilt started to creep in as well, and he made himself look up. “I’m sorry. We can…I’d be happy to put something together now, I know it would’ve been nice.”

Loki cocked his head to the side, his expression difficult to read. Steve felt his heart sink a little further. What had Sam been thinking, telling Loki about all the _good things_ Steve hadn’t had the chance to do-

Standing up abruptly, Loki held out a hand. “Come with me,” he said.

Steve blinked at him. “Sorry, what?”

“Come with me,” Loki repeated. “We’re going to go somewhere. A vacation, of sorts. A brief one, by necessity, but…”

Steve stared at him. “We can’t just - take off,” he protested. “People will get worried.”

Loki’s lips quirked. “We’ll leave a note.”

“A _note?_ ” Steve shook his head, incredulous. “What if something comes up?”

“Do you think that all your friends together are not able enough? T’Challa alone has the force of his nation behind him.”

It was…a fair point. Steve could feel himself wavering. “Where would we even go?” He asked. “We’re fugitives, remember? It’s not like we can just go wandering around Paris-”

Loki’s faint smile widened. “Who said we were going to stay on this planet?”

_Oh,_ Steve thought. He reached out and took Loki’s hand.

* * *

Steve didn’t think he was ever going to get used to that strange place between worlds that Loki walked so easily: beautiful and overpowering, magnificent and overwhelming. It was only a moment, though, and the first thing Steve noticed when they stepped out was the light.

It was filtered, soft, dusk-like. Looking up, the sky was a peculiar color somewhere between periwinkle and lavender. They were standing in a small copse of trees that Steve initially took for a sort of pine, but looking more closely he realized that what he had taken for needles were in fact very thin leaves, shimmering with a strange iridescence.

“Welcome to Alfheim,” Loki said, and when Steve looked at him he was smiling, one of those genuine smiles that brightened his eyes and lit up his whole face.

“Alfheim,” Steve echoed. “It’s…do elves live here?” He felt a little foolish the second he asked it, but Loki’s laugh didn’t sound mocking.

“The Ljosalfar rule here, yes - though there are others of the Fae, less powerful, who also make this Realm their home.” He looked out, away from Steve. “It’s a strange place. Everything here is suffused with magic. Mutable, ever-changing. And beautiful. I used to come here often.” A brief shadow passed through Loki’s eyes, and Steve frowned.

“Is it…safe for you to come here?” He asked, suddenly worried. Loki half smiled.

“We are far from civilization,” he said. “And Alfheim is not Asgard. I cannot say I would be welcome here, but nor would I be exactly forbidden. And we will only be here a short time.” He took Steve’s hand and raised it to his lips. “I have wanted to show you something of the wider universe for a long time, and while much of it may be closed to me…this, at least, I can share.”

Steve pulled Loki close and kissed him, fierce and passionate. Loki leaned into him with a quiet hum, a soft sound of satisfaction that made Steve feel warm.

He pulled away only a little reluctantly. “This is better than anything I could’ve planned,” he said honestly. Loki laughed, back in his throat, but Steve thought he seemed pleased.

“Shall we walk?” He asked. “I don’t mean to limit your observation to this small grove. Perhaps if we are lucky I’ll catch you a unicorn.”

Steve’s eyes widened. “What?”

“You wouldn’t want me to,” Loki said, eyes dancing. “Perfect beasts, the lot of them. Like the worst kind of goats.”

“I don’t care,” Steve said, honestly. “ _Unicorns._ ”

Loki shook his head, laughed. “Well, I suppose we shall see.”

* * *

They walked through another world together.

It was beautiful. Out of the trees they emerged into grassland - or at least, that was the nearest thing Steve had to compare it to, although the grass shimmered with color as the strange dusk-light touched it. Something like a feathery bat jumped up out of the grass only a few feet from them and flapped up into the sky. Steve looked up, looking for a sun, and found two round objects hanging, one much larger than the other.

“Alfheim’s twin moons,” Loki informed him. Far from being impatient with Steve’s gawking, he seemed delighted to play tour guide. “Legend claims they are the creators of all life on Alfheim, and now serve as its guardians.”

“People used to say that about the moon on Earth,” Steve said.

“Are they wrong?” Loki asked. He sounded amused. “I suspect your Realm would look very different if your moon were not there to guard it.”

“I suppose it would,” Steve said after a moment. “The light…is it dusk, or is it just like this?”

“It never gets very bright,” Loki said, “but the days are also very long. The sun won’t set for - at a guess, another twenty-four of your hours.” He reached out and took Steve’s arm to pull him to a halt. “Look there.”

Steve followed the direction of Loki’s finger pointing and saw a head atop a long neck poking up from the grass, something like a cross between a giraffe and a dog. It looked at them and a ruff of feathers sprang up around its neck and - whistled. Three high, pure notes, astonishingly musical.

Loki laughed, probably at the startled look on his face. “The singing deer of Alfheim,” he said. The animal whistled again, four notes this time, and bounded away. Steve gawked after it.

“Well, that’s something,” he said, shaking his head a little.

“When they gather in herds, the harmonies are beautiful,” Loki said. There was something briefly, faintly wistful in his voice. “It is remarkable. And very loud.”

“It’s incredible,” Steve said. “All of this…there’s so much. And you…” He trailed off. It occurred to him with a pang that this was Loki’s world - not Alfheim, but traveling across the universe, moving between Realms like he was walking to the park. And now…

And now he was tied to just one, almost all the others closed to him. How _small_ Earth must feel. How confining.

“I’m sorry,” he said. Loki gave him a startled look.

“For what?”

“That you’ve…lost this,” he said. “The ability to just…go places. Wander wherever you want, whenever you want.”

Loki turned to him, his expression turning serious, and took Steve’s face in his hands. “Steve,” he said, “do not think I would trade you for that freedom. I am…well. Not wholly content with my lot. I miss it, sometimes more than others. But Midgard…Earth is my home, now. I am only sorry I cannot show you more.”

Steve met Loki’s eyes. “When we were in Asgard I remember thinking it’d be better if you were there. Sharing it with me.”

Loki smiled very slightly, a faint sadness at the back of his eyes. “If I were Thor, I might tell you that someday I will be able to.”

“But you don’t think so,” Steve said.

Loki shook his head. “Asgard has a long memory.”

Steve glanced down. “I’m glad to hear you say that,” he said slowly. “That Earth is your home.”

Loki rested his forehead briefly against Steve’s and then straightened. “Come,” he said. “I hear a stream. Maybe we can see some fire salamanders, or an undine.”

“What’s an undine?” Steve asked.

“A shapeshifting water elemental,” Loki said. “They don’t usually try to drown anything larger than an otter.” Steve gave Loki a dubious stare, and Loki laughed, his face so bright and young it made Steve’s chest ache. “Do not worry, beloved,” he said. “I will protect you.”

It was such a simple thing - and half a joke, Steve thought - but he felt warm all over.

* * *

A little past the stream - where they _did_ see an undine, a slender, sinuous looking creature that peered at them from underwater with an almost human face before darting away - Loki summoned a blanket and spread it out on the ground.

“It wouldn’t be a walk in nature without a picnic,” he said, by way of explanation. “I understand it’s a customary thing for lovers to do, on Midgard.”

Steve huffed a quiet laugh and sat down. Loki being Loki, he’d brought a fancy spread far beyond sandwiches and chips, including a bottle of wine - though it appeared he’d conceded as far as plastic cups rather than glass.

The air was warm and the soft light was soothing. They ate in companionable silence; Steve watched a nearby flower unfurl before his eyes, welcoming a small animal that Steve took for a bee before realizing that it was in fact a frog-like creature with wings like a dragonfly’s.

It was magic. Steve’s hands itched for his sketchbook, and when he turned to look at Loki, to ask half jokingly if he could summon that, the look on his face was warm and so painfully fond. Steve thought maybe he should draw that instead.

The picnic finished, they stretched out on the blanket. Steve looked up at the sky.

This was nothing he could ever have dreamed.

“Loki?” He said.

“Hmm?”

“I’ve been meaning to ask,” Steve said slowly. “Do you… _would_ you want to get married? I mean - formally. With a ceremony of some kind, or…” He trailed off, self-conscious. “I don’t know how it works on Asgard. And I meant what I said, about it not being…necessary.” He turned the ring on his finger. “On its own…this means something, too.”

Loki seemed surprised. “I thought that was the plan.” Steve turned to look at him, and Loki’s eyebrows pulled together. “At least…”

“No,” Steve said. “No, I’d like…I just wasn’t sure what _you_ were expecting, or…you haven’t said anything.”

“Nor have you,” Loki pointed out. “I assumed that…you thought the same as me.”

“The same as you what?” Steve asked, and Loki looked up at the sky again.

“That we would wait to…celebrate properly until Thor returns.”

Steve lay still. He hadn’t really realized it, but he supposed he’d been thinking the same thing - that it wouldn’t be quite right to have a wedding without Thor there. And maybe the reason he hadn’t said anything about it was because it was something neither of them wanted to talk about, wanted to _address -_ Thor’s long absence, and the worry about what it might mean.

“You’re right,” he said, after a pause. “He’d never forgive us if we left him out. I still wish…I don’t know.” He could feel himself turning pink. “I guess I’m just impatient.”

Loki half smile. “Mayhap we can think of something. And just ensure no one mentions it to Thor.”

“That part’d be pretty key,” Steve said, with only a little forced levity. “I don’t want him to put me in a headlock for not inviting him to the wedding.”

Loki rolled over him and turned Steve’s face toward his, drawing their mouths together. The kiss started off soft and quickly deepened; Steve opened his mouth eagerly at the brush of Loki’s tongue, sliding his arms around Loki’s waist and pulling him in close. When they parted Steve bent his head to suck a kiss into the side of Loki’s neck, feeling the vibration of his pleased sound in his chest. He let up only to swipe his tongue over the same spot.

“Mm, Steve,” Loki murmured, nuzzling Steve’s jaw.

“Hmm?” Steve said innocently, nipping lightly at the skin of Loki’s neck. Loki made a noise in the back of his throat and shifted to be properly on top of Steve, stretched out over him. Steve’s breath caught a little and Loki pushed himself up, hands braced on Steve’s shoulders, looking down at him.

“I know not how I am so fortunate,” Loki said quietly, “but it seems to me a miraculous thing. Sometimes I wonder if I touch you you might vanish, all this no more than a lovely illusion.”

Steve felt his smile fade and reached up to touch Loki’s face. “I won’t.” Loki’s expression didn’t ease, and so he added, “come here,” and pulled him back down into another kiss. He let his hands wander, a little, rucking up Loki’s shirt so he could touch the skin of Loki’s back, cool and smooth under his palms. Loki lowered himself down over Steve, untucking his shirt and sliding his hands underneath.

Steve jumped a little, half-closed eyes widening. “Loki-”

Loki half smiled. “Come,” he said, voice dropping a fraction. “We are entirely alone, and you cannot tell me you don’t like the idea of having sex under the sky of another world.” He dropped his mouth to Steve’s throat, deft fingers unbuttoning his shirt. Steve settled back with a little shiver for the light brush of Loki’s fingers across his skin.

“You’re - hmm. Pretty convincing,” he said.

“Steve,” Loki murmured, lips moving down over his chest, and Steve ran his fingers into Loki’s hair, his breathing starting to shorten. He reached out and tugged at Loki’s shirt.

“Planning on leaving this on?”

Loki laughed, low in his chest, and paused long enough to unbutton and shed his shirt. Steve didn’t bother pretending not to admire, unable to keep a smile off his face at the way Loki practically preened.

“You’re beautiful,” Steve told him honestly, and Loki flushed a very delicate pink.

“Flattery will get you everywhere,” he said with a smile, his hands floating down to Steve’s hips. Steve let his own wander over Loki’s shoulders, mapping newly bared skin.

Loki bent down and mouthed at the skin just under Steve’s sternum. He shifted, heat building in his belly, his cock stirring and starting to fill. He just held back a gasp when Loki’s hand cupped him lightly through his pants, offering just the lightest, briefest massage.

He _did_ gasp when Loki’s tongue fluttered against his stomach, combining with the light pressure of his palm in a tantalizing promise. Steve’s hips rose into Loki’s hand and he felt Loki laugh.

“Feeling impatient?” Loki asked lightly, glancing up. Steve gave him a weak glare and Loki smirked, an expression that went straight to Steve’s cock. Without looking away, he undid the button on Steve’s pants and started pulling down the zipper.

Slowly.

“Dammit-” Steve said, and then clamped his mouth shut. “You know I’m gonna - pay you back for this.”

“For what?” Loki asked innocently. Steve lifted his hips obligingly for Loki to slide his pants down. His face felt hot, and he sucked in a sharp breath when Loki pressed his nose against Steve’s hip and inhaled. When he breathed out it was a brush of warm air that sent goosebumps across Steve’s skin.

“You smell good,” Loki murmured. “Well, always, but there is something especially… delectable… about the way it changes when you’re aroused.”

Steve’s face got hotter but he heard his breathing snag. “Huh,” he said. Loki laughed again, but lower, the tone of it making Steve feel pleasantly shivery.

Loki removed Steve’s underwear quite a bit faster than his pants. The air felt cold on Steve’s overheated skin, and for a moment he almost cringed, acutely aware of how exposed he was, out in the open air. He forgot to think about it, though, with the soft brush of Loki’s tongue. He made a very quiet “hnnh” noise and Loki chuckled.

“Very good,” he murmured, and Steve flushed, grabbing a handful of blanket as Loki’s tongue swirled a spiral over the head of his cock. He dropped his head back with an explosive exhale.

“Loki-”

“I am _never_ going to get tired of hearing you say my name like that,” Loki said, and Steve could feel the air of his speaking on him, making him twitch. He was fully hard now, already. He opened his mouth to say - something, and cut off when Loki ducked his head and licked a broad stripe from base to tip.

“Oh god-”

“Hmm-mm,” Loki hummed, his lips just brushing Steve’s cock so he could feel the vibration of it. His eyes slammed closed and he sucked in a shuddering breath.

“You’re - uh - ruining any chance I have of petting a unicorn, you know,” he managed. Loki laughed.

“If you are referring to their love for virgins, I can inform you it is entirely legendary.” He paused. “Besides…do you want me to stop?”

“Nope,” Steve said, trying to sound flippant, but he was pretty sure his voice was too shaky to quite pull it off.

“Good,” Loki said, “considering I really do not want to.” His hands gripped Steve’s thighs, warm tongue sliding across the ridge of his cockhead before his mouth enveloped him.

Steve squeezed his eyes closed and let out a sound closer to a whine than anything else. His hips bucked up only for Loki’s hands gripping his legs to push him back down, pinning him as he took just the first inch, inch and a half of Steve’s cock. When Steve forced his eyes open and looked down at him it was to see Loki’s eyes half closed, though they flicked up to look at Steve almost immediately.

Steve’s stomach clenched with arousal for the look on Loki’s face, hungry and wanting. As if he’d been waiting, Loki’s eyes dropped and he swallowed Steve to the root.

Body going taut, Steve let out a punched sound, the warm feeling of pleasure going from an ache to an urgent throb, but the weight of Loki’s hands holding him down left him utterly at the mercy of Loki’s direction. And Loki was bobbing his head up and down slowly, _too_ slowly, lavishing attention on every inch of him but not quite giving _enough._

“Loki,” Steve groaned. “You - please, _ah-_ ”

Loki sucked noisily and Steve felt his face flush even as he pushed against Loki’s restraining hold, his heart pounding, his entire body overheated. He felt Loki moan and echoed him, feeling like he was about to start vibrating.

Suddenly Loki pulled all the way off him, breathing hard. Steve made a sound of protest, or started to, but it died in his throat when he looked Loki in the eyes and saw him smile.

Steve almost shouted when Loki swallowed him again, his throat squeezing, sucking at Steve like he could pull his orgasm from him, and he _could._ One of Steve’s hands flew from the blanket into Loki’s hair as he tipped over the edge. Loki dropped his hands holding him down, and let Steve thrust in erratic, urgent strokes, lips and tongue working him through.

He fell back to the blanket limp, shuddering, his heart racing. Loki lifted his head, looking pleased with himself. “And now,” he said, voice a little rough, “you can say you’ve come on two Realms.” He grinned, utterly unashamed, and Steve had to laugh even as he flushed.

“Really?” He said, but Loki’s grin only widened.

His hand still in Loki’s hair, he pulled him up to where he could bury his face in Loki’s neck, fixing his lips to skin and sucking until he felt Loki tense and moan, grinding his cock into Steve’s hip, hot through the fabric of his pants.

“What about you,” he murmured, sliding one hand down Loki’s back, over his taut, firm ass. He felt Loki’s laugh in his chest even as his body rubbed seemingly unconsciously against Steve’s.

“Oh, I’ve - _hmm,_ come on several Realms.”

Steve tried not to feel a pang of self-consciousness, even jealousy. “Not what I meant.”

“I know.” Loki nuzzled against Steve’s neck. “Would you like to be fucked on another Realm too, Steve Rogers?”

Steve shuddered a little, licking his lips. “That doesn’t sound like too bad an idea,” he said, voice light. Loki nipped him, lightly, at the join of his neck and shoulder.

“Oh, no,” he said, voice low and rich. “I want to hear a _yes, please._ ”

Steve sucked in a breath. “Uh - yes, please,” he said. Loki pushed himself up, climbing off Steve and stripping out of the rest of his clothes. Steve kicked his pants off the rest of the way, sitting up.

“On your side,” Loki told him, and Steve rolled over without thinking. Loki lay down next to him a moment later, face to face, hand stroking over Steve’s hip and then lifting Steve’s leg to lie over Loki’s. His fingers were already slick, sliding over the skin behind his balls to probe at his ass.

Steve’s breathing hitched as Loki pushed a first blunt fingertip into him, shallow at first but working deeper, pausing to add more lube. Steve could have taken rougher, but the slow, meticulous preparation had him first breathing hard and then shaking even before Loki’s fingers curled inside him and set off the shock of feeling through his whole body down into his toes. His cock was half hard again, and he could hear himself murmuring Loki’s name, almost dazed.

By the time Loki moved behind him, chest against Steve’s back and one thigh wedged between Steve’s legs, Steve was on the point of begging for it.

And then he stopped. Loki teased, cock pressing against him but not in, and Steve squirmed. “ _Loki,_ dammit,” he burst out, and felt his face getting even hotter than the rest of him.

Loki laughed, kissed the back of Steve’s neck, and pressed into him, slow and smooth until his hips were flush against Steve’s ass.

It was a different angle than Steve was used to, maybe not quite as deep, but when Loki started moving he forgot to compare. One of Loki’s hands pressed against Steve’s stomach, his other arm snaking around to hold Steve’s chest, and if his thrusts were shallow, Steve jerked with every one, aware of every ripple of Loki’s muscles, every harsh exhalation and stutter of his movements. And then his pace picked up, each thrust angled just _right_ to have Steve’s nerves sparking, singing, overwhelmed.

He wrapped his hand around his own cock but Loki replaced it with his, stroking Steve in rhythm with his pumping hips.

They came barely a breath apart. Steve could feel Loki quivering, gasping against Steve’s neck as his cock pulsed inside him, Steve’s own come rapidly cooling on his chest.

They didn’t move, staying there intertwined.

Maybe for the first time since everything with the Accords, Steve felt…safe. Loki seemed to be trying to burrow closer, like he could somehow pull Steve more tightly against him.

“Thank you,” Steve murmured. He knew he shouldn’t doze off, not here, but he wanted to.

“Mmm?” Loki said. He sounded like he might feel the same way.

Steve wasn’t entirely sure how to say everything he meant. “For taking me here,” he said, finally, and hoped Loki could hear the rest.

* * *

He didn’t fall asleep, but Steve must have dozed off a little, because he blinked and woke up lying on his back with his head on Loki’s leg and Loki’s fingers running through his hair.

“We need to go back,” Loki said regretfully. “Though I am truly sorry to disturb you.”

Steve sighed. “It’s all right. We should.” Loki must have done something about the mess, because Steve’s chest was clean - though the blanket hadn’t fared as well. They got dressed slowly and stood up. He could hear something that sounded like wind chimes.

“One of the birds,” Loki said, cocking his head a little to the side. “I cannot remember what it is called, I’m afraid.” He gave Steve a small smile, and held out a hand. “Shall we?”

Steve grasped the offered hand and pulled Loki in so he could kiss him. “Thank you,” he said again. Loki’s smile widened, just a fraction.

“My apologies for the lack of unicorns.”

“I’ll live.”

Loki’s fingers twined with his. Steve could feel the ridge of Loki’s ring.

They stepped out into the space between worlds, the universe singing around them.


End file.
